This application requests partial funding for a conference on UBIQUITIN AND INTRACELLULAR PROTEOLYTIC DEGRADATION, to be held Ju1y 2-T, 1989 at Saxtons River, CT. This conference is sponsored by the Federation of the American Societies of Experimental biology (FASES) and receives partial support from this group. The format of the meeting will consist of nine formal sessions (two each day- in the morning and evening-except for Friday when there will be only a morning session) with three to five invited speakers at each session. Ample time will be set aside for posters, informal talks and discussion. The chairperson will provide a brief overview and background for the particular session. The major focus of this conference is on ubiquitin and biochemical systems for the intracellular degradation of protein. One of the major pathways for degrading protein inside cells utilizes the small, highly conserved protein called uubiquitin, and details on just how ubiquitin functions in protein turnover have emerged in the past few years. But, at the same time,it has become clear that the ATP- ubiquitin-dependent system is not the only one employed by cells and in particular, the prokaryotes use another type of ATP- dependent ezymatic activity. A discussion of the latter and non- ubiquitin systems in different cellular organelles is planned. Other recent data based on elucidation of ubiquitin coding genes indicate that ubiquitin may play critical regulatory roles involving ribosomal RNA, the cytoskeletor, the chromatin and surface receptors. The specific sessions include ubiquitin genes and their expression, ubiquitin, enzymology, prokaryotic cell protein degradation, the proteasome, regulation and physiological factors in protein breakdown and protein degradation in organelles. This will be the first major corference on ubiquitin and the first meeting to bring together investigators working on distinct intracellular pathways of protein breakdown.